Improvement in guard-plates for harvester-cutters



w. F. COCHRANEQ GUARD-PLATE FOR HARVESTER-CUTTERS. V No.v173, 903. IPatented Feb. 22,1876.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM F. OOOHRANE, or LA FAYETTE,INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUARD-PLATES FOR'IHARVTESTER-CUTITERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 173,903, datedFebruary 22, 1876; application filed April 20, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. OooHaANE.

of La Fayette,in the county of Tippecanoe and State of Indiana, haveinvented anew and Improved Heel Guide and Pitman for Harvesters; andI'do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being bad to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a topplan view of the inner end of the cutting mechanism, showing the pitinanand heel-guide for the sickle, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of theinner shoe in front of the sickle-heels Fig. 3 is a side elevation ofthe drag-bar shoe, and Fig. 4 a horizontal section of the heel-guide.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawin gs denote thesame parts.

My invention has for its objectto improve the means 'for preventing thesickle of a grain and grass harvester from dropping inward below the endof the inner shoe when theshoe and linger-bar are turned up fortransportation. To this end, the invention'consists in casting theheel-guide in one piece, with a returning shoulder or projection at itsinner end, against which the pitman-hook of the sickle bears when thefinger-bar is turned up, to prevent the sickle fromdropping below theinner end of the guide and'shoe.

In the accompanying drawings, A is the finger-bar ot'a grain or grassharvester, secured to the inner shoe B and provided with the sickle,moving through the race 0 in the usual manner. D is the heel-guide,bolted upon the top of the shoe in rear of the sickle, and cast with areturning projection or shoulder, E, at its inner end. F is thesickle-pit-' man, having its hook G sufficiently long to extend throughthe heel H of the sickle and bearagainst the face of theheel-guide. Thepitman is held within the heel by the pin I, and a washer, J, isemployed to insure the bearing of the sickle hook against the heelguide,so that, as the parts become worn, the washer may be renewed or replacedby others, to hold the hook up to the guide. By this construction thesickle is guided evenly and

